'Joker' knifeman kills children and worker in Belgian creche

A man resembling the Batman villain The Joker killed two children and a child care worker during a knife attack on a creche in the Belgian town of Dendermonde on Friday.

Two unidentified persons hold a child with an identification number on his forehead, at a crisis center next to the scene of a stabbing incident at a daycare center in Dendermonde, BelgiumPhoto: AP

By Bruno Waterfield and John Bingham in Dendermonde

9:51PM GMT 23 Jan 2009

The 20-year-old assailant had a painted white face, eye shadow and ginger hair, and was wearing a bullet proof vest, witnesses said.

He tricked his way into the Fabeltjesland day care centre at 10am by claiming to have a meeting with one of the members of staff. He then drew a 12in knife and began to slash at children aged between a few months and two years old.

There were 21 infants in the creche and six supervisors. All of the victims were stabbed in the throat or head. Parents gathered in the Dendermonde town hall and, with psychologists in support, identified the victims using photographs.

Nine children escaped unharmed. Three of the creche's child care workers were injured as they tried to fend off the attacker.

Theo Janssens, Dendermonde's deputy mayor, said that the man "just went crazy".

"There was blood everywhere, it was unbelievable, real carnage. He went straight for the babies and attacked them. The smallest ones were in their beds, they were probably asleep."

Marita Blindeman, the adult who was killed, raised the alarm.

"She called the ambulance and died," said Peter Cleymans, 47, a paramedic.

"She was falling down as she was on the telephone. When we got there the phone was covered with blood, it was hanging in the little kitchen."

After the attack, the man, who has yet to be named by police but is from the town, calmly left on his bicycle. Police sealed off all local schools as panic spread throughout the town.

The knifeman was pursued by a police helicopter and arrested in a nearby supermarket still in possession of the weapon used in the attack. Alphonso De Baaker, a retired teacher, said the attacker had a history of mental illness.

Khris Kieckens, the proprietor of the Pertotal bar on the same street as the creche, described how sobbing parents rushed to the scene.

"There was hysteria," he said. "One of my friends saw the attacker cycle off. His eyes were running with black ink, he was thin, tall and ginger haired."

Belgian television said that witnesses described the attacker as looking like The Joker from the Batman films. Parents were taken to a social centre nearby where police showed them digital photographs of infants and toddlers by police, and asked them to identify the children who had identification numbers on their foreheads.

Police and hospital sources said six children, between one and three, were seriously injured, another four suffered minor injuries.

Last night they were all out of danger after surgery.

Paramedics said that when they arrived it was unclear whether the attacker had left. "It is very difficult to do your job when you think that in two minutes he could be on my back and put a knife in my back," said Filip Mannaert.

"You can't imagine what we saw at that time. The babies were hurt not in the arms, not in the legs, not in the stomach, always the head or the neck. It is something you don't forget."

Carl Haentjens, 30, an ambulance co-ordinator said: "When we arrived, the attack was over and the building evacuated but none of us was sure if he had left. The injuries were bad, the worst I'd ever seen, especially because it involved very young babies."

Dr Ignace Demeyer, the director of the local hospital, said: "This was a particularly violent attack."

Piet Buyse, the mayor of Dendermonde, said: "An act of great brutality has happened here against our weakest citizens.

"The parents are in great shock and so is our city.

"The only thing we can do now is help with the aftermath, with our minds, our hearts and thoughts with the parents.

"We will do everything to support them."

While the attacker was still on the loose Anna Lies Eckhout collected her children aged eight and 10 from the local school, Bijenkorf, just 200 yards from the creche.

"There was mass panic," she said.

"The school was sealed off. The headmaster was in the schoolyard with a megaphone calling the children inside."

Mrs Lies Eckhout said that lessons returned to normal after the attacker was caught.

She said the creche was popular with parents, many of whom commuted 20 miles to Brussels for work.

"Fabeltjesland has a really good reputation. No school can prepare for this," she said.

Nathalie Francois, came with her four year old daughter Tiani, to Vufde Januarui Straat, the scene of the attack, to place flowers in driving rain and bitter winds.

"We are all very shocked. No one can believe that something like this could take place anywhere, especially a small place like here," she said.

Belgium's Crown Prince Phillipe and his wife Princess Mathilde visited the families of the injured children at a local community centre last night.

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